John’s favorite entertainers of the Aughts (Commentary)
First, my top 10 entertainers. These are the people (and one fictional robot) who put a smile on my face in every project they tackled.
Star Wars (Disney)
Fun with ‘The Clone Wars’: Guessing Ahsoka’s fate (TV commentary)
Don’t mix up “Clone Wars” and “The Clone Wars.” “Clone Wars” was the spin-off fiction produced from 2002-07; it included nine collected volumes of comic books (plus 10 volumes of the lighter “Clone Wars Adventures”) […]
Get even better, ‘Star Wars: The Clone Wars’ does (TV review)
Watching “The Clone Wars” (7 p.m. Central Fridays on Cartoon Network), I wonder if the “Star Wars” prequels should’ve been animated all along. “Clone Wars” feels more like “Star Wars” than the live-action movies do. You would […]
Fall TV 2009: 7 new developments on old shows (Commentary)
Here are seven plot developments I’m looking forward to on old favorites this fall season. (Technically, TV’s best show, “Friday Night Lights,” is a fall returnee — Oct. 28 on DirecTV — but I’ll be […]
Another attempt to defend the ‘Star Wars’ prequels: Midi-chlorians as an explanation of religious faith (Movie commentary)
“Star Wars” fans didn’t like midi-chlorians — microscopic cells within one’s body that heighten Force sensitivity — when they were introduced in “The Phantom Menace.” But I’d argue that George Lucas was making a subtle commentary on […]
Who’s your favorite Anakin? (Movie and TV commentary)
Jake Lloyd is now 10 years older than he was in “Star Wars: Episode I,” so he’s the same age Anakin Skywalker was in “Episode II,” when the role was taken over by the age-appropriate-at-the-time Hayden Christensen. […]
Is it just me, or is Comic-Con one giant commercial? (Commentary)
Entertainment Weekly, Zap2It, G4 and all the major entertainment news sources have jumped on the Comic-Con bandwagon in recent years — even the gossip-themed “Chelsea Lately” mentioned Comic-Con in a recent episode. Because there are a lot of producers, writers […]
5 random odds and ends (Commentary)
1. In “Return of the Jedi,” when the Ewok (I believe it’s Paploo, but I can’t check it because I don’t have my “Star Wars” library moved into my new place yet) jumps on the […]
Where were you in ’98?: ‘Fanboys’ will make ‘Star Wars’ fans smile (Movie review)
At the beginning of “Fanboys,” two of the titular characters argue about Boba Fett’s degree of coolness, the Fett-hater noting that the Rocketeer also had a jet pack, so that can’t be a point in his favor. […]
Maybe ‘The Phantom Menace’ was ‘just a movie’ after all (Commentary)
Ten years ago today, I was waiting in a sun-drenched line at West Acres Cinema in Fargo, N.D., to buy a ticket for the midnight debut of “Star Wars: Episode I — The Phantom Menace,” […]